First, I would love to reconnect with Dave, Shack and my other brothers who were part of MFP. My email address is duane.azre@hotmail.com.
I picked up Owsley at the Airport in Denver and brought him to Reed's Ranch. He was the Dead's sound man at this concert fifty years ago. It was an honor picking him up and having him there. For those who lived inthose times - you know why!
When the concert started people broke through the doors and then we opened it up for all to enjoy.
Cowboys came in with a bad attitude to break up the concert and the Dead started off with Green Green Grass of Home and the cowboys said hey they are good and then all was cool.
Our dreams of doing concerts was shattered because we lost a lot of money. But it was the greatest experience knowing that I was a minor part in putting on a Dead concert

He Was a Friend of Mine has a tone and emotion that no other band or guitarist besides Garcia could achieve. At least this song is a hidden gem and this show displays a unique snapshot in history.

Short but sweet, super '69! Clocking in at just under 45 minutes, the only problem I have is I wish it were longer! MAMU gets clipped, but a very nice Dew solo, and some fine pickin' on Green Green Grass. High Time is smooth, and He Was a Friend is arguably one of their best. You can really hear the boards well, and what a solo. Crappy? Well as another said, one's trash is another's treasure.
The opening 8:30 have a beautiful country flavor that may not be to everyone's liking, but this is a grate recording overall. I've heard better, heard worse, but it's a solid 4 all the way. As always, this is just what the doctor ordered. See you in Chicago ~
Happy 50th Grateful Dead !

Ragged & crappy. They really needed to woodshed this stuff a lot more before taking it to the stage. Terrible sound, really awful.

It was a great show, despite some of the critics on this page. The sound recording is distorted, but that concert was a mini Woodstock. It was jammed with heads, atmosphere unlike anything I'd ever seen before 7-3-69, or since. It was actually a very large barn, not a'hut' as previously mentioned. My best friend and I were there until almost dawn because the Dead didn't come on until about 3am. That was the only bad thing about that night, and it was bad, I was hearing and feeling vibes like the place just might break open at the seems. Alice Cooper was a new band that was sharing the 'barn' that weekend. And a Denver band, called "Zephyr"(named after a railroad, hot wind)opened for the Grateful Dead. This was less than a year before my favorite Dead album "Workingman's Dead" came out. "Yeah Man, it was cool all right"!

this is why i love the Dead, and stories about them doing too much drugs makes me like it more. Jerry sounds good, sound quality is good, nice jams and psycadelic country vibes.

All rock bands have off nights. For the Grateful Dead this was one of them. I missed this show (I'm from Denver) but my friend Glenn attended it. The event was held at a ranch which had been hosting rock concerts in a kind of quonset hut. Drug use by the band in full view of the audience (and vice versa). The Dead intended to play the sun up, but Garcia was so out of it that Phil had to tune his guitar. They got off to a rocky start, and tuning was a problem all night, although some tracks sound better than others. Despite the obvious struggles, everyone but the band had a good time. Glenn said that finally they played a version of Cosmic Charley which sounded pretty good, and Phil stepped up to the mike and said "Anybody know where we can get a cup of coffee?" and everyone knew the show was over. The Tapers' Section at Dead.net has a piece of this show with Turn On Your Lovelight, but the end is cut. TOYL does not really sound like the end of the show, however, because of the unbroken series HTH, HWAFOM and Lovelight. Those were more often first set material in mid 1969. Perhaps Dead.net will upload the rest of it.

The Sittin', Dew, and Friend of Mine are all excellent versions worth checking out

Gotta love the pedal steel on Green Green Grass Of Home & Slewfoot. Although the lyrics are kind of silly, Slewfoot might have worked well as part of one of the later cowboy medleys. Oh, well.
Great show all around but I particularly love this Morning Dew. The High Time starts a bit ragged but gels into a beauty.

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"This day in GRATEFUL DEAD History"
1969 Super Soundbard.
Classic 1969 Sound.
40 years ago today the GRATEFUL DEAD were performing live in Colorado Springs Colorado.
I bet the USAF Academy was short some students this day....
I highly recommend adding this show to your 1969 GRATEFUL DEAD collection.
13:16 long performance of "He Was A Friend of Mine".
Here's one way to download this show:
The IA recommends users of Windows XP view this web-page with RealPlayer.
RealPlayer is a free media player you can download at www.realplayer.com.
Using RealPlayer to view this webpage, click the VBR M3U link to open the songs in the Playlist. If your Playlist is not open, open it by clicking the Playlist icon at the lower right hand corner of RealPlayer. Once the songs are in the Playlist, double click the song to play it, then click the record button at the lower left hand corner of Realplayer to record it.
When the red line reaches the other end click the stop button to download the song. Your song is in the RealPlayer Downloads folder. Repeat these steps for each song.
Eat, Drink, Be Merry and Listen to the GRATEFUL DEAD.
Thanks for the LOVE from 1969.
PS: Get em' while you can, get em' while they're free, get em' now or you'll be sorry...the Man giveth and the Man taketh away...WTTW

Thanks so much for posting such great early jams!!!!!
Great to hear the boys at thier core!!!!

Thanks Charlie for putting this up, an excellent He Was A Friend of Mine with the longest opening solo I've heard. What a great tune! Am still listening to the rest but this is a definitely a keeper -- anything from these peak months is worth a concentrated listen. Jerry's guitar work is incredible. Thanks!